FIFA bans matches at decrepit Sierra Leone stadium

FIFA has banned matches at Sierra Leone's decrepit national stadium until the ground is brought up to international standards, the impoverished country's football association (SLFA) said.

The SLFA said it had received a letter from world soccer's ruling body stating that safety provisions as well as changing and medical facilities at the Freetown Stadium were inadequate.

The former British colony, wrecked and brutalised by a decade of civil war in which rebels hacked off people's arms and legs with machetes, is bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index which ranks countries by quality of life.

Soccer provides welcome relief for many of its poor, unemployed citizens - including charity games between teams of amputees who lost limbs in rebel atrocities.

England midfielder David Beckham's visit in January as a goodwill ambassador for UN Children's Fund UNICEF drew cheering crowds.